Friday, July 24, 2009

As promised, I went home last night and took some pretty amazing pictures. (lol!) Okay, so the pictures aren't amazing, but I think you'll at least be able to see some progress.

So let's get started shall we?

First lets talk about my dreadful 1970's oak-y cabinets. They were pretty plain and sad looking (and filthy!) but they're solid and much like the rest of our house just needed a little TLC. Let me tell you the story about these cabinets. We decided to take them completely off the walls because when I was demolishing the tile backsplash I really did a number on the drywall. We thought it would be easier to drywall, texture, and paint the entire walls, rather than having to cut in around all the cabinets. Then...I saw some very inspiring photos of extremely beautiful kitchens with no soffit, and immediately fell in love! FYI...the "soffit" is the space between the tops of the cabinets and the ceiling. You all know the spot where people usually put knick knacks! And yes people, when I first read about a soffit I had NO idea wth it was. I *heart* Google!

See this picture?

This pictures was taken right after I got my lovely stainless steel appliances. In the top of the picture can you see the fluorescent light and the drop tile ceiling? Barely! I was trying to hide them because they were so ugly! But, you'll notice that our cabinets look like they go directly to the (fake) ceiling...aka no soffit. Well...we actually had about another 2 feet of ceiling up there!

Here's how it looks now...The cabinets will go to the top of the ceiling and have some pretty new crown molding.

Amazing...No? Wow, to see these before and after pics is seriously satisfying for me! I tend to forget how far we've come in this kitchen remodel. We still have SO much to do...it's overwhelming!

I wish I had some "after" pics of the cabinets. Truth is...I've only painted about half of the upper cabinets. They're not distressed yet...nor have they been coated with poly. But here they are sitting in the living room in all of their bright white glory!

I've decided to do the upper cabinets a distressed white (vintage-y looking!) and the lower cabinets are going to be black. Why not all black you ask? Well for one thing...I just finally gave this little kitchen some breathing room and didn't want to lose that openness with too much black. Plus, black is a very intimidating color to paint in your home! I'll admit it...I'm afraid! :)

If I've learned one thing during this whole remodel project, it's that I am a very indecisive person. Drives Nick crazy! For this reason alone, I've decided to stick to a very basic and neutral base throughout the house...think black, white, beige, taupe...boring, boring, boring! Don't get me wrong...I LOVE COLOR! But, I love to mix it up...often. At least once a month! I'm constantly moving things around. So...I thought the smartest thing to do would be to bring in fun colors and patterns on things that can easily be swapped. Pillows, artwork, decor, rugs etc. I know, I know...I'm brilliant.

I'm thinking this post is getting kinda wordy...Won't you agree? Let's take a look at some more pics...

This is what the other side of the kitchen looked like before....Lots of storage, but it gave the kitchen a really confined feeling. So we tore out those cabinets, recessed the fridge back under the staircase, and built a pantry. Genius!

Here's the new pantry! (Sorry...no homemade screen door yet!) See the hole near the ceiling? That's the extra EXTRA pantry storage for all my gadgets. I'm telling you...Nick seriously maximized every ounce of space he could find!

Close up of the pantry storage

Happy fridge living in her new fridge home!

I'm blogged out for now :0)

We've got a fantastic weekend planned...Hope y'all have a great one too!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Where has the time gone? I just saw that my last blog was from July 5th :) Man I'm on the ball!

I owe you lovely readers some serious updates! Readers? Hello? You are still out there, right?

If you've decided to stick around (bless your hearts!) I promise, promise, promise that I will go home, take pictures, and upload first thing tomorrow morning. I know, I know...I've said that before. But now I'm really feeling like a slacker, and you all have silentlyguilted me into getting my blog on!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

I'm tired. I just wrote a post and tried to publish...and I had some sort of computer error. Argh! I'm too tired to re-write everything and upload pics, so I'll do it tomorrow. Hope you all had a great weekend filled with family, friends, fireworks and food! We worked our booties off....tell you all about it tomorrow :)

What did we do you ask? Well my lovely blog readers, I am so pleased to announce that we are officially done with drywall. No more cutting, sanding, mudding, more sanding, or texturing. We are D-O-N-E!! We worked our little booties off these last four days and our backs and shoulders are not thanking us :) Next up...Primer and paint! Below are some pics of what the kitch looks like with real walls...I'll post again this week when I've got paint on them!

Hope you all have a wonderful week! I'm off of catch some much needed rest.

Xo Laura

Bonk sends sugars! This is what I got to look at all day on July 4th. She is terrified of fireworks...and literally would not leave my side. Good nite!